Trade association "completely taken by surprise" with union's decision

Both groups say preventing work stoppage is a priority

Crain's Detroit Business

Road work is expected to continue throughout Michigan despite plans to sever a relationship between a union of 14,000 heavy construction workers and the state's main trade association for heavy highway construction.

Road work in Michigan will go on despite an imminent split between a 14,000-member union of road workers and the trade association with which it has contracted for more than 50 years.

That's the message from Operating Engineers Local 324, which plans to cut ties with the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association when their contract expires Friday.

"We are not negotiating with (the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association)," said Dan McKernan, communications director for the union. "At this point, we do not have any work stoppage planned."

The union believes it can strike a better deal for its members by ending its relationship with MITA and negotiating deals directly with contractors, McKernan said. The association is convinced that plan is doomed because contractors will demand deals be reached through MITA, Nystrom said.

"They all stand unified with MITA," Nystrom said. "There's no independent discussion going to take place."

Nystrom added that "first thing tomorrow morning we will offer up an extension to that contract in order to keep everybody working." McKernan said there will be no renewed deal. Both agree that continuing work on the state's crumbling roads without disruption is a priority.

After a brutal winter, construction is in full swing across the state, with more than 140 projects planned by the Michigan Department of Transportation this year, including a major overhaul of the currently closed westbound I-696 in Macomb County. The city of Detroit is planning $58 million in repairs to 88 miles of roads this year; Wayne County is planning $60 million in improvements.

TheDetroit News first reported earlier this week the looming contract expiration, highlighting worries that it could cause a work stoppage.

The five-year contract set to expire was struck in 2013. MITA's new five-year contract proposal includes a 3 percent wage increase for employees that Nystrom called "fair and equitable" for the union.

"This time they don't even want to meet with us," he said. "We are completely taken by surprise with this."

McKernan said the contract is more than just about wages, but declined to elaborate as the current contract is still active. As for why now, he said it came down to a routine re-evaluation that turned up "new opportunities.

"We took the time to fully evaluate the contracts we had and decided which ones were the best ones to move forward with and which ones to find new avenues for," he said.

The union has a window "well into the summer" to strike a new deal with contractors before health care and pension funding is in jeopardy, McKernan said.

"Hopefully we all keep working and cool heads prevail," Nystrom said. "Our goal is to keep working no matter what."